Mid-Day board approves pact with Zee

The board of Mid-Day Multimedia Limited has evaluated and approved a MoU signed by the company to undertake a strategic alliance with Zee news. According to informed sources the frequencies of programmes and the financial arrangement are yet to be worked out. The content is expected to go on air from January 2002.

Mid-Day Multimedia will be providing the news software for Zee News.

Earlier, Zee Telefilms had shown interest in Mid-Day Multimedia for a strategic alliance involving Zee News. As per the agreement, Zee News will host a time-band on its channel with Mumbai-specific content sourced from Mid-Day group. This would be the first foray into television content for Mid-Day Multimedia, which has a presence in publishing and radio.

According to industry sources there might not be any equity relationship, but did not rule out a revenue-sharing arrangement. Both the companies have been in talks in this regard for some time.

Zee has been scouting for content sharing deals and has recently entered into such an alliance with CNN.